Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell

Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell (before 1 March 1538[2] – 20 November 1592[3]), the son of Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell and Elizabeth Seymour, was an English peer during the reign of Elizabeth I. He was the grandson of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 1st earl of Essex, nephew of the Protector Somerset and first cousin of Edward VI.

Henry Cromwell
Baron Cromwell
Arms of Cromwell, Baron Cromwell: Quarterly, per fess indented, azure and or, four lions passant counterchanged[1]
Tenure1551–1592
SuccessorEdward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell
Known forSon of Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell
BornHenry Cromwell
1538
Died20 November 1592 (aged 53–54)
Launde Abbey, Leicestershire, England
BuriedLaunde Abbey Chapel
52°37′52″N 0°49′23″W / 52.631111°N 0.823056°W / 52.631111; -0.823056
NationalityEnglish
ResidenceLaunde Abbey
LocalityLeicestershire
Spouse(s)Mary Paulet
IssueEdward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell
Sir Gregory Cromwell
Katherine Cromwell
ParentsGregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell
Elizabeth Seymour

Family

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Henry Cromwell was the eldest son of Gregory Cromwell, 1st baron Cromwell, only son and heir of Thomas Cromwell, and Elizabeth, widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred (d. 1534), daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, Wiltshire, and Margery Wentworth. He was baptised on 1 March 1538, probably at Hampton Court, where the Lady Mary almost certainly stood as godmother.[2] Shortly after the baptism, his parents left for Lewes in Sussex to the former Cluniac Priory of St. Pancras, recently acquired by his grandfather, where they remained from March 1538 until early 1539, when they took up residence in Leeds Castle, Kent.[4]

Henry's grandfather, Thomas Cromwell, had been created Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon in 1536 and Earl of Essex in 1540 as a reward for his service as chief minister to Henry VIII, but he had lost those titles by attainder in June 1540.[5] On 18 December 1540, his son Gregory was created 1st Baron Cromwell. This title was a new creation rather than a restoration of his father's forfeited barony.[6][7] Henry succeeded his father as the second Baron Cromwell under that creation. A minor at his father's premature death from sweating sickness on 4 July 1551,[3][4] he was first summoned to Parliament in 1563.[3]

His mother remarried, in 1554, Sir John Paulet, later Lord St John.[8] She died 19 March 1568, and was buried 5 April[9] at Basing, Hampshire.[3] His stepfather later married, before 30 September 1568, Winifred, widow of Sir Richard Sackville, and daughter of John Brydges, a former Lord Mayor of London.[8] He succeeded his father as Marquess of Winchester in 1572.[10]

Cromwell was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1553.[11] He may have been admitted to Lincoln's Inn, 7 March 1557.[11] His siblings included brother Thomas Cromwell and half-brother Sir Henry Ughtred, and his brother-in-law was William Paulet, later 3rd Marquess of Winchester.

He was arrested in 1572 for contempt of court (an injunction in the Court of Chancery) but the House of Lords insisted on his release since as a peer he was immune from arrest in civil actions.[12]

Marriage and issue

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Cromwell married, before 1560, Mary (c. 1540 – 10 October 1592),[3] the daughter of his stepfather John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester and his first wife Elizabeth Willoughby,[3] and by her had issue:[3]

Death

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Cromwell's wife died at North Elmham, Norfolk, 10 October 1592, and was buried, on 23 October, at Launde Abbey Leicestershire.[3] He died on 20 November following at North Elmham, Norfolk and was buried, 4 December, in the chapel at Launde Abbey, Launde, Leicestershire.[3][20]

References

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  1. ^ Nichols III(I) 1800, p. 327.
  2. ^ a b MacCulloch 2018, pp. 440–441.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cokayne III 1913, p. 558.
  4. ^ a b Hawkyard 1982.
  5. ^ Cokayne III 1913, p. 557.
  6. ^ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, 16, 379-34.
  7. ^ MacCulloch 2018, p. 538: "unlike his father's barony in 1536, Gregory's peerage was not given a location".
  8. ^ a b Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry III 2011, p. 311.
  9. ^ College of Arms 2012, p. 63.
  10. ^ Cokayne VIII 1898, p. 173.
  11. ^ a b Venn 1922, p. 422.
  12. ^ Mosley 1 2003, p. 1124.
  13. ^ Burke 1831, pp. 152–153.
  14. ^ Shaw II 1906, p. 96.
  15. ^ Lee 1888, pp. 151–152.
  16. ^ Carthew II 1878, p. 522, 524, Gregory Cromwell is listed in his father's will.
  17. ^ Shaw II 1906, p. 102.
  18. ^ a b Ferris 2010.
  19. ^ Cokayne 1900, p. 18.
  20. ^ Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry I 2011, p. 605.

Bibliography

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Peerage of England
Preceded by Baron Cromwell
1551–1592
Succeeded by